I'm thinking about making Atari 2600 PCB's

[SgtBowhack]

I've got the PCB pretty much designed and am going to make a breadboard version to double-check. What do ya'll think?

Wow. How did I totally miss this part? Foot is dutifully inserted into mouth. Still, I hope something I said was useful...
Sorry for the stupid rant

[SgtBowhack]

Year, the fact that the CE guy hasnt updated his site in a few years makes no difference, right?

Well, it doesn't mean he died or anything He might still be checking that mail and have the info *shrug* Anyway, it wouldn't hurt to have something to check against, I figure. But if you guys are pretty much done, then I am just useless, aren't I.

[someone]

I am thinking of trying to make a mini PCB for an atari and was wondering, are all 6507s the same or did the arati use a custom one?

[Sparkfist]

Atari used custom chips, like the 6502 cpu was a modified one. Gannon has a link to a website that sells all the chips to make your own. I dont remember the thread title but its some where in the Atari 2600 forum.

[gannon]

The only custom chip in the atari 2600 is the T.I.A/Stella

[SgtBowhack]

Atari used custom chips, like the 6502 cpu was a modified one.

False (well, partially). The Atari uses a 6507, which is not a custom CPU. As gannon said, the TIA(Stella) is custom... but I was under the impression that RIOT was too. I could be mistaken there though. So it did use custom chips, but the CPU wasn't.

Gannon has a link to a website that sells all the chips to make your own. I dont remember the thread title but its some where in the Atari 2600 forum.

Best Electronics (mentioned earlier in this thread) sells them.

[gannon]

This one is my lattest design. It uses another board for the power supply and internal controlls, but it is 2.4"x3.1", which I think is great


Edit:
I'm changing my design a bit. I'm going to be putting both controller ports on the other board with the internal controlls and power supply. This greatly reduces the via count, and makes the main board size 2.4"x2.95"

[The Zydeco King]

I hope this really happens. If it does I'll buy a 2600 Kit board for sure.

[benheck]

I worked on my design for a few more hours today... I'm using some Atari 2600 schematics I got off Atari Age but some things, like the crystal circuit, don't work (Been testing them with an original un-hacked Atari) so instead I'm basing those designs off my old old crystal circuit I made back in the "Vagabond Prototyping" years, which does work.

I think it's important for the trace lines to look good... otherwise it seems sloppy. I'm also keeping the via's down as low as possible, and not having traces go between DIP pins on the lower side of the board (since those are more likely to get badly soldered by a human)

The crystal circuit seems to require 6 resistors, 2 PNP transistors and the crystal.... I'm wondering, what does the video circuit require since it's going to be composite? Anyone?

And what about sound?

I'm using the ExpressPCB software, haven't tried their service yet. For prototyping the price seems OK, but what about larger runs?

[gannon]

I'm wondering, what does the video circuit require since it's going to be composite? Anyone?

I'm using a video mod from atari age using 6 resistors and a motorola transistor

And what about sound?

For sound in my design I tie pins 12 and 13 together, then I connect a 2k resistor from them to +5V, I tap audio from the side of the resistor where pins 12&13 are.

[SpongeBuell]

for sound I would use my stereo mod I found on the Atari Age forum a while back, which I submitted to doomportables here. It's pretty much what gannon is doing, but the pins aren't joined and there is a capacitor as well.

btw, Ben, did you get the PM I sent a few days ago? The sooner you are able to respond, the better, as I will be going somewhere for a few days.

[SgtBowhack]

I've never used ExpressPCB but have heard good things from some who have. But using their standard service, you're paying quite a bit per board... assuming an 8 square inch board it'd be $67+$7.25 per board+shipping. Production service would be $233+$4.28 per board+shipping. You'd need over 56 boards to justify moving up (and that'd be nearly 500 bucks worth of boards). Depends on how many you're interested in, I suppose. Still, I guess if enough people want a Ben board for less than $10, it could be worth it

I don't mean to sound as if I'm insulting your intelligence or doubt your abilities, since you've obviously fiddled with the Atari quite a lot over the years, but have you looked at the 2600CE page for possible answers to those questions? He's got a somewhat nice looking design up and running, it seems (wonder why it's never updated...)

Gannon: Nice design! I like it. How much stuff is involved on the internal controls side of things?

[JackFrost22]

I missed this post but heres my input. I am designing an atari pcb right now its 3" by 3" but I want to use smt stuff on it to make it smaller. Theres also a lot of empty space on mine. I used protel so if anyone has it I can give you my desing. Once i get comeponets Im gonna make some prototype boards

[Sparkfist]

Not to knock on Spongbuell but isnt there the one probleme of the Atari outputing mono and some of the sound effects coming from the other speaker?

As for the boards, testing them we know Mindstein has an etching tank, if anyone else has one they can do a prototype test of it to be sure it works and if it does put it into production. I might save you a decent amount.

Besides, Ben if your a little shacky about finding people willing to buy remember Atari Age people are more numerous then we are and they order one at the drop of a hat.

[JackFrost22]

I have an etching tank. I could do bens desing so I just gotta get about $50 for parts